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Figure 1 Number and share of the foreign-born population in Canada, 1901 to 2006

Sources: Statistics Canada, censuses of population, 1901 to 2006.

Description

This graph shows the number of foreign-born and its proportion in the total population over the past105 years.

The census enumerated 6,186,950 foreign-born in Canada in 2006. By comparison, the 1901 Census counted fewer than one million foreign-born. This number gradually rose to almost 1.6 million people born outside Canada in 1911, to almost 2 million in 1921 and to 2.3 million in 1931. However, the foreign-born population fell over the war years. The 1941 Census showed 2.0 million in 1941, and that of 1951, 2.1 million. Since then, the foreign-born population has been growing steadily, rising from 2.1 million in 1951 to 2.8 million in 1961, to 3.3 million in 1971, to 3.8 million in 1981, to 4.3 million in 1991, to 4.9 million in 1996, to 5.5 million in 2001 and finally, close to 6.2 million in 2006.

This graph also shows that the proportion of people born outside Canada has reached its highest level in 75 years. In 2006, 19.8% of the entire population was people born outside Canada. This is the highest proportion recorded since 1931, when foreign-born represented 22.2% of the population.

The lowest proportion of foreign-born was 13%, recorded at the turn of the last century in the 1901 Census. This proportion almost doubled, reaching approximately 22%, between 1911 and 1931. Because of the low immigration levels during the Depression and war years, the proportion of foreign-born dropped to 17.5% in 1941 and 14.7% in 1951, but has been rising steadily since then. The proportion of foreign-born people was 15.6% in 1961, 15.3% in 1971, 16% in 1981, 16.1% in 1991 and 18.4% in 2001.